


In The Weeds

by Lady_Oscar



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Gen, Post-Episode: s02e08 The Blade of Marmora, Slice of Life, Tags May Change, Working title: Space Catnip, updated summary
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-20
Updated: 2019-10-20
Packaged: 2020-12-24 17:31:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21103292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Oscar/pseuds/Lady_Oscar
Summary: Keith gets his hands full when he accidentally feeds the Blades a plant that brings out the more ... feline aspect of their natures.





	In The Weeds

One of the first things Keith learned about everyday life with the Blade of Marmora is that even master spies and Galra rebels had chores. Given the secretive nature of their work, Kolivan had explained, it was too risky to employ a staff solely for the upkeep of the headquarters. Moreover, doing menial tasks themselves set them apart from the long imperial tradition of having servants. The Blade of Marmora prided itself on welcoming all those of Galran heritage, regardless of prior class, as long as they could pass their trial and put their lives on the line for their cause.

To that end, he also learned that it was customary for every Blade on base to gather for a group meal periodically, depending on how many were around, and how long they were going to be staying. There were rules about the meal, and they were simple: the Blade who was in charge of the group meal changed on a rotating basis, and they were allowed to use anything that was available on the base, which included food goo, staple plants grown on site, and various other items that had been bartered for from trusted allies. 

Although he would have never admitted it, the prospect of cooking for his fellow Blades initially made Keith very nervous. The sum total of his culinary knowledge consisted of a few half-remembered things his father taught him before he died, plus a handful of techniques Shiro had attempted to show him when he had had the time back on Earth. 

The first time it was his turn to prepare a meal for the Blades, he had stuck with food goo, since it was what he was the most familiar with, and to his surprise, no one had complained, which was the usual outcome if for some reason he had to cook for the paladins back on the Castle of Lions. 

Moreover, as he continued to share meals with them, he quickly realized the Blades’ concept of a decent meal was quite varied and that the Blades probably had no idea what Earth food was like, so they had no comparison for good or bad if Keith attempted to make something from home.

His anxiety was further put to rest the first time he endured Antok’s cooking, if it could be called that. The Blade’s idea of a meal apparently began and ended with meat that was so rare it was practically still moving. Keith had discovered to his astonishment that he could digest said meat to no ill effect, but he had decided he definitely still preferred food that was thoroughly cooked and also seasoned. 

By the time his name came up again in the rotation, he was feeling more at ease with cooking for the Blades and wanted to try something more complicated than food goo. Not only that, but the meal he was supposed to be making was also a celebratory dinner of sorts, although he knew that Kolivan would have discouraged that type of thinking. 

It was hard to deny that the overall mood on base had been considerably more upbeat following the arrival of a female Blade named Thayla, who had, rather unexpectedly, shown up with Ulaz in tow. Keith had barely seen either Blade since they had come back, but the story of how Thayla had rescued Ulaz quickly made the rounds around base anyway. Her ship, it was said, had picked up a distress signal from the ship Ulaz had stolen to fight the Ro-Beast, and she immediately rushed to him. He had been severely burned and his lifesigns had all but ceased by the time she reached him, but he had survived just long enough to be brought back to the base and put in a recovery pod. 

If Keith had barely seen Thayla around, he had seen Ulaz even less. From what Thace had told him, the recovery pod had taken care of the worst of his injuries, but the pale Blade was still quite weak and currently assigned to bedrest indefinitely. His visitors were limited to Thace,his mate and with whom he was sharing quarters, and Kolivan. 

Keith had been spending a great deal of time thinking of Ulaz. He already felt he owed something to Ulaz for his act of freeing Shiro from captivity, but then he went and sacrificed himself and in doing so, convinced the paladins to believe in the cause of the Blade. Keith had further realized that he himself wouldn’t even be a Blade if he hadn’t made the connection between his knife and Ulaz’s weapon and became determined to learn the truth of his Galran heritage… 

All of this weighed on his mind as he headed to the base’s makeshift kitchen to prepare his meal. He decided that if he couldn’t see Ulaz, the least he could do was make something great for Ulaz’s savior. As to what that something would be was still up in the air even as he stood in the doorway of the kitchen’s storeroom and surveyed the many strange ingredients, which were decidedly uninspiring, to Keith, anyway. 

“A credit for your thoughts?” A sibilant voice asked from somewhere behind him. Keith turned to see Regris, who was carrying an armful of what looked to be assorted circuit boards and tools. 

“Oh, hey Regris,” Keith said distantly. “Hey, would you mind helping me with dinner?” The Blade’s sudden appearance reminded him that Regris had made quite a meal when it was his turn to cook. 

“Of course,” Regris answered and carefully deposited his tools and components on the large table that occupied one side of the room. “Only if you don’t mind that I work on this while you cook. Normally I’d do this in my quarters, but sometimes I think better when I change where I’m working.” 

“It’s a deal. I think there’s more than enough room for both of us.” 

“Now, where do you want to start?” 

“I think I want to try using something from the garden, but I still don’t know a lot of the plants in there.”

“Very well. Let’s go.”

Keith had been in the base’s garden only once before, but even then he could immediately tell it was a far cry from the small plot of tomatoes, onions and peppers his father had coaxed into growing in the desert. In this space, every plant was grown without soil in tidy boxes that were precisely arranged and suspended from the ceiling. Each box had settings for watering and harvesting -- delicate sensors could determine if a specimen was past due for harvesting and gently removed the produce, processed it and stored it for the Blades’ later use. Officially, any Blade could claim a box and grow something if they so desired, but few of them had time for it. As it was, the garden was designed to take care of itself. 

Upon reaching the garden, Keith and Regris made their way through the rows with the long-tailed Blade pointing out what looked ready to be harvested, manually if necessary, and how it could potentially be prepared. They were both peering at a bright pink colored root that looked oddly similar to a potato from Earth when Regris paused in the middle of his explanation of its uses and turned his head sharply to the far end of the room and then looked back at Keith. 

“Do you smell that?” He asked breathlessly. 

“No,” Keith answered. He watched in confusion as Regris handed him the magenta potato and made a quick beeline to a stack at the end of the row, and then gestured for Keith to come closer. He was standing in front of a box that was positively overgrown with long thin plants crowned with small purple flowers. 

“This smells incredible,” Regris exclaimed as he tore a few leaves off the plant and then waved them under Keith’s nose. Keith had to admit they did smell rather nice up close. “You should use these!”

“What is it?” Keith asked. 

“I don’t know, I can’t read this label,” Regris admitted. 

“Why is there so much of it?”

“I don’t know that either, but it looks like the harvest settings have been deactivated.”

“Do you think it’s safe to eat?”

“Well, the rule is nothing can be planted in here that can’t be eaten.”

Keith took one of the leaves that Regris was holding and tasted it. He thought it would go well with what he was planning, so he and Regris grabbed a handful to take with them. They returned to the kitchen armed with quite a number of vegetables and the mysterious leaves from the garden. 

Gathering the rest of his supplies, Keith peeked in the small freezer. The only meat that was available came from an animal with a name that Regris couldn’t quite translate although he said it was a creature that swam. Better to think of it as a fish, Keith thought to himself, although it didn’t look like any fish he had seen on Earth. 

He soldiered on, preparing his ingredients and dropping them in a large pot on the stove. As the stew began to cook and simmer and put off a pleasing smell, Keith leaned against the counter and allowed himself to relax. 

It was then that Regris abandoned his tinkering to hover just over Keith’s shoulder. 

“Aren’t you supposed to be working on something?” Keith teased him good-naturedly. Regris always stood just a little closer than the other Blades, but this was excessive. 

“It just smells so good,” he all but whined, surprising Keith. 

As Keith tried to guide him away from the stove, Thace walked in with Thayla on his arm. 

“Keith, this is Thayla,” Thace said by way of introduction. “She is my kin.” 

Keith tried not to stare as the only outward trait that Thace and Thayla seemed share was the rich purple hue of their fur; beyond that, she was so slight she was only just a hair taller than himself, and also, unusually for a Galran, she had a pair of small, curved horns atop her head. She seemed equally taken with him as she stepped forward to grasp each of his hands in hers and briefly dipped her head towards him that he recognized as the Galra gesture for politely sniffing a newcomer. 

“So you are the human Blade,” she said warmly. “I’ve heard so much about you.”

Before he could respond, Antok loudly entered the room and strode toward the stove. 

“I could smell this from down the hallway,” he growled as he peered into the simmering pot. “It was a damn distraction.” 

Before Keith could stop him, he grabbed the nearest utensil and sneaked a taste. Apparently satisfied with what he had sampled, he turned and sat near down at the table where Regris had abandoned his project. 

“I was wondering where everyone had gotten to -- oh, that smells quite wonderful,” Kolivan exclaimed as he walked in, and much like the others, stole a taste of the stew. 

As the stew continued to cook, they all kept coming up to the stove and sniffing around the pot or trying to sneak a taste, much to Keith’s chagrin.  
“If you all keep eating it now, there won’t be any left for dinner,” Keith said and snatched a spoon from Thayla’s hand. She let out a musical laugh, and Keith couldn’t help but grin at her. The other Blades eventually stopped their sampling of the stew, but it meant that Keith had five full grown Galra and Galra hybrids staring him down while the food finished cooking.

At last it was time to serve the meal and sit together in the adjoining dining room. 

“This is quite good, Keith,” Kolivan announced and there were murmurs of assent from the other Blades. 

As the meal and chatter wound down, Kolivan and Antok stood up and excused themselves to get back to work while the rest of the group remained in the dining area. 

After a comfortable silence descended upon the room, Thace cleared his throat and made a show of turning to Thayla. 

“Thayla, I know I’ve already thanked you, but it bears repeating: thank you for rescuing Ulaz,” he said. 

“It was no problem,” she answered. “He would do the same for me, and besides, Ulaz is practically family.” 

“How did you save him?” Regris asked earnestly. 

“There’s not much for me to tell, I know how quickly word travels around the base,” she said dryly. “After I found him and his ship, I told him in no uncertain words that he couldn’t die on me, and that was that.” 

When the conversation lulled again, Keith quietly rose from his seat and began clearing the table, with Regris soon trailing behind him to lend a hand and tail. As soon as Keith approached Thace, the older Blade produced a deck of cards from somewhere on his person and began shuffling them. 

“Care for a round?” He asked Keith. 

“I would, but I’d rather get these dishes out of the way. Maybe later?”

“What about you, Regris?”

“I would also play if not for this spare communicator I’m trying to alter for Kolivan.” 

“Suit yourself,” he said affably with a shrug and started dealing cards for himself and Thayla. 

Aided by Regris, Keith dumped the dirty dishes in the sink and began preparing to wash them by hand. The base’s dishwasher had been broken for some time beyond any of the current Blades’ expertise as it required some arcane part that had to be traded for. 

Keith found he didn’t mind washing the dishes by hand, especially since he had the company of Regris. As he stood at the sink and glanced at the electrical components spread out in front of the Blade, it occurred to Keith that he should really introduce Regris to Pidge and Hunk some time. 

Keith was reaching for a towel with which to dry a few of the larger dishes when he realized it was suddenly much too quiet in the room and looked over his shoulder at Regris to see what he was doing. He discovered the Blade was no longer sitting at the table, although Keith was certain Regris had not left the kitchen. 

“Regris?” He called out hesitantly. 

When he received no answer, he put down the towel, scanned the room, and then poked his head in the storeroom. It was there he saw Regris sitting on the floor and thoroughly engrossed in examining his tail.

“Regris!” He exclaimed. “What are you doing?” 

He watched Regris’s ears flick at the sound of his name but otherwise the other Blade kept inspecting his tail until he turned around to face Keith. The Blade then moved onto all fours, and unsure of what was about to happen next, Keith slowly walked backwards into the kitchen. Regris followed, and without a warning, the Blade launched himself toward Keith, which caused him to lose his balance and fall backward onto the floor. 

“Hey, what was that for?” Keith yelled indignantly as his fighting instincts took over and he tried to roll away from Regris. The other Blade again said nothing only to lunge toward him, and this time he trapped Keith on the floor by sitting on his chest. As Keith groaned at the weight pinning him down, he tried to push Regris off of him, but the Blade didn’t budge except to reposition himself so that his rear was in Keith’s face. 

“This is getting kind of weird,” Keith wheezed and tried to shove Regris’s tail out of the way. The Blade flicked the end of his tail in agitation but otherwise did not acknowledge Keith. 

Keith heard the sound of a door opening and he craned his neck around Regris to see Thace and Thayla bound into the room, also on all fours. At the sight of them, Regris finally got off of him; Keith sat up and watched as the three Blades rubbed their faces and bodies against each other while thoroughly ignoring Keith. 

“This is getting really weird you guys,” Keith muttered. Thace broke away from the other two to approach Keith and let out a plaintive mewl. He bumped his head against Keith’s hand, nearly crushing it against the floor, and then looked at him rather expectantly. 

“What?” Keith said. Thace repeated the action, and then came even closer so that he could rub his head against Keith’s shoulder. It seemed almost inappropriate but Keith experimentally reached around and patted Thace on the back of his head and abruptly stopped when the Blade started making a noise that was almost identical to the purr of a housecat from Earth. 

As he sat in shock, he suddenly recalled the first time Lance had casually referred to Galra as purple space cats, which had made him unspeakably angry, although he couldn’t pinpoint why at the moment it upset him so much. He had to admit the similarity was now unmistakable as Thace butted his head against Keith once more. As he ran his fingers through Thace’s thick fur, Thayla came up to them and bumped her head against the hand that was petting Thace until Keith pet her too. He watched as Thayla rubbed her face against Thace’s and then the two of them started licking at each other’s cheeks. 

Taking advantage of their momentary distraction, Keith slid away and stood up to ping Shiro on his communicator. 

“Hey Shiro,” he greeted him. 

“Hey Keith. Is it okay if Pidge listens in? We’re running some maintenance on my arm.”

He saw a hand wave off to Shiro’s side. 

“Yeah, it’s fine, I guess.” 

“Keith, is something wrong?”

“I think I poisoned the Blades.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve told you how we take turns to cook, right? It was my turn to cook, and now they’re not acting right.”

“Well, are they still breathing? Are they unconscious? Are they in pain?”

“I mean, they’re perfectly fine, I guess, technically. It’s just that they’re acting like --” He didn’t want to say it.

“They’re acting like what, Keith?”

“They’re acting like … They’re acting like cats, Shiro.”

“What? I want to see,” he heard Pidge yell. She must have stuck her head in between Shiro and the communicator as her face suddenly took up the whole screen. 

“There’s nothing to see, Pidge,” he said wearily and ran his hand down his face. Just then he felt something akin to a hand ruffling his hair, and looking over his shoulder, he realized Thace was not only sitting on the table behind him but also aggressively licking the back of his head. He made a noise of disgust and batted at the Blade, but Thace kept at it. Keith might have been a kitten swatting at a tiger. He looked down at the communicator screen to see both Pidge and Shiro staring at the Galra behind him. Pidge in particular had goofy look on her face that alarmed him. 

“What is that look, Pidge?” He asked. 

“It’s just so cute,” she squealed as her eyes went wide. As he glared at her, he thought he heard Shiro make a choking noise as if he were trying not to laugh. 

“This is serious, you guys,” Keith huffed. 

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Regris in front of the counter, his nose pointed toward the food he had set aside for Ulaz at Thace’s request. He watched the Blade maneuver the end of his tail around the side of the bowl and slide it toward the edge of the counter, and before he knew it, the bowl came crashing down onto the floor, spilling its contents everywhere. 

“Regris, no!” he shouted. The Blade spared him no glance as he started eating the food off of the floor. Thayla finally stopped nosing at his ankles to join Regris, and Thace slid off of the table to follow her. Keith watched in horror as the three of them together managed to not only eat the food, but also lick every trace of it off of the floor. 

“Is everything all right, Keith?” Shiro’s voice startled him. 

“Can I call you back?”

“Uh, sure,” Shiro said.

Even as he cursed under his breath about the mess, he felt rather guilty about not having anything to bring to Ulaz. 

Ulaz … maybe he could help, Keith realized.

**Author's Note:**

> If you think this is stupid, the second part (to be posted) is equally dumb.


End file.
